Norwalk boys soccer blanks New Canaan

Published 10:09 pm, Wednesday, October 24, 2012

NEW CANAAN -- With the 4-0 defeat of New Canaan Wednesday night, the Norwalk boys soccer team completed the best regular season in the program's history, 14-1-1.

That the Bears capped it against the team that knocked them out in the first round of the last two FCIAC tournaments was definitely satisfying. But playing the Rams also served to remind the Bears of the disappointment of the last two seasons.

Kevin Joslyn, who netted two goals for Norwalk, wasn't shy about using the dreaded c-word in discussing his team's recent postseason fortunes.

"The last two years, I'll admit it, we choked in the first playoff game," Joslyn said. "We lost to New Canaan twice in a row (in the FCIAC tournament). So I think our mentality is the area of concern. We tend to choke under pressure, I feel like. We do very well in the regular season, no pressure. We can kind of just play our game."

Coming into this match, Norwalk had already secured the No. 1 seed in this weekend's FCIAC tournament and New Canaan (9-4-3) had already secured a spot among the eight top teams as well. Because of injuries, the Rams were playing without their senior captains, Marcus Hijkoop and Justin Pertierra, and another senior, Juan Ricardo Deambrosio.

"It was going to be a tough game from the beginning knowing we were going to be short three players, two captains and a third leading senior," New Canaan coach Victor Sanchez said.

Norwalk's Matt Capomolla kicked off the scoring at 37:46 of the first half, scoring on the Bears' very first shot on goal. Six minutes later, New Canaan goalie Michael Powell (six saves) made a terrific sliding kick save to keep the deficit at one for the Rams. But Joslyn, who was the beneficiary of several onside entry passes from Norwalk teammates, netted the second goal at 28:35.

"We knew before the game that we already booked the first seed, so it's tough to get the mentality going to really play," Joslyn said. "But we wanted to use this as a sort of preseason to the postseason. We wanted to play our best soccer right before the first playoff game on Friday night."

With 15:10 left, a crossing pass from Joslyn was perfectly placed along the ground between several New Canaan defenders, but Capomolla kicked it through the uprights and smacked the goal post in frustration. At 11:31, Joslyn got though the New Canaan defense on his own, striding ahead of the defense on New Canaan's side of midfield. Powell came out to challenge him, but Joslyn kicked it off his outstretched hand to make it 3-0.

Steven Valente of New Canaan got an opportunity in the box at 5:40, but couldn't turn and get a shot off against Tyler Dalton (3 saves). It was New Canaan's best opportunity to score.

Norwalk coach Chris Laughton said the dominating performance is good for his team's psyche.

"The kids didn't forget what happened last year and the year before (against New Canaan)," Laughton said. "Even though our seed is already locked up, it's good to see that they wanted to come out and work hard and kind of redeem themselves for what happened the last few years. I think that's a good way to step into the tournament, with having that off our shoulders."